Toshimitsu Miyauchi, Digital Manager, Marketing Department, Lotte Innovation Headquarters, Lotte Co., Ltd.

Turning customers into fans: Making greater use of digital media

■ Profile

After graduating from the School of Social Sciences at Waseda University, he joined Lotte Co., Ltd. He worked in sales at wholesale stores and supermarket headquarters, then worked in the retail support department and product development department, before taking on the role of practical manager for the company's online shop in 2016. In November 2019, he assumed his current position, overseeing the company's online shop as well as owned media such as the website and fan site.

There is surely no one who has not heard the catchphrase "Lotte, your mouth's lover." There are countless hit products, including "Ghana," "Sou," "Yukimi Daifuku," and "XYLITOL." When people think of Lotte, many also think of the professional baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. We spoke with Miyauchi, who is in charge of digital marketing at this large company.

　We are mainly in charge of planning and managing owned media and the online shop. Originally, the homepage was under the jurisdiction of the advertising department, but we are now in charge of managing it along with Lotte Land and the Lotte Online Shop, with the aim of operating the owned media in conjunction with each other.
　A distinctive feature of the confectionery industry is that product names and company names don't often match. For example, "Koala's March" is an easy match because its commercial song is "Lotte Koala's March," but for other products, people probably don't really think of them as Lotte products. Given this, rather than simply getting people to recognize them as products of the Lotte company, we have no choice but to foster an attachment to each brand (product name) and increase loyalty. As part of this, we don't simply provide product information; we also take measures such as creating games based on each product within our owned media and organizing craft projects using empty candy boxes to increase contact with our products and ultimately increase loyalty.

■Increasing number of ways to approach customers

　In the past, advertising was centered on television, radio, magazines, and billboards, but these days, exposure is expanding endlessly to include video sharing sites, websites, apps, and various text-based media. This makes it extremely difficult to track and analyze the effectiveness of each advertisement. In the case of products where the transaction is completed online, there are some things that can be analyzed, but sweets are basically purchased offline, so this is really difficult.
　However, there is much that can be done by utilizing digital media in the future. For example, our official LINE account has over 1200 million subscribers, and the number of social media subscribers for each of our brands is also steadily increasing. This makes it much easier to work on how to create fans through social media accounts. This is very important due to the nature of sweets as a product. For example, with home appliances, you do thorough research beforehand, agonize over the purchase, and finally buy the one that you think is the best. However, with sweets, purchases are often impulsive, so to speak, where you just wander into a convenience store or supermarket and pick up whatever catches your eye. Therefore, we think it is important to make sure that our products are remembered when people make that impulsive move.

■ The difficulty of developing a hit product

　It's becoming increasingly difficult to create long-selling products these days, so it would be cool if I could answer, "This is how you make a long-selling product," but if anyone knows, I'd really like to hear from them (laughs). However, not just for our company, but for every manufacturer, the main earners are products that have been around for decades, so I think every manufacturer is itching to develop long-selling products.
　One of the reasons it's difficult to create a hit product, not just in the confectionery industry, is that interesting advertising doesn't necessarily lead to purchases. No matter how interesting a plan you come up with and how much buzz you create on social media, or how impressive the cast you have in a commercial, it's meaningless if people don't see it and think, "Oh, I'll go buy this." And the cruel thing is, even if you spend a huge amount of money on a commercial, only a handful of people will remember it the day after they see it. This is a really difficult part.

■Message

　We don't think of digital advertising as separate from analog advertising (physical advertising). This is because customers don't consider whether an advertisement is digital or analog. And it's people like you who are making a big impact in the digital world. Today's young people are called "digital natives" and are adept at using digital without even thinking about it. Unless these people take the lead in our efforts, I don't think we'll be able to appeal to customers in the future. Even Taiwan's genius Digital Minister, Audrey Tang, has said, "Young people are no match for new things." Flexible ideas, mindsets, and unconventional ways of thinking. Use the things you have as a youthful weapon and take on new challenges.

Student Newspaper Special Edition April 2021 by Yoshio Ogawa, 4th year student at Keio University